Forty days after Pascha, the Feast of feasts, the Church celebrates one of the twelve great feasts of the Church: the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into Heaven. Herein we celebrate that the Lord Jesus Christ took on our human nature, which He divinized and took to Heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father.
The day before, on the Leavetaking of Holy Pascha, the Ascension is symbolized by removing the Shroud from the altar table, on which it has lain since Pascha night, and in procession take it back to its resting place during the rest of the year: the Tomb of the Lord.
On Wednesday, June 12, the abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, His Grace Luke, Bishop of Syracuse, led the Polyeleos during the All-Night Vigil on the eve of the feast. The following morning, June 13, he celebrated Divine Liturgy on the feast day itself, co-served by monastery clergy.
